Scarlet
by hel lokidottir
Summary: Collection of drabbles and one-shots circling around the Maximoff daughter in no chronological order. (Major spoilers for AoU) 4: "thank you, frate"
1. Chapter 1

.cold

_"Do you know how death feels like?"_

She knows the feel of metal in her hands, the dying vibration of the heavy core, the sharp scent of liquefied steel. It felt cold - cold like winter storms and strong winds from her childhood; cold like the floor under her bed as they stared at the shell for days, her cheek on the cold_ cold_ ground as she prayed to God to save them but He never did; cold as the iron bars that enclosed her and the cement that served as her only companion for months and months and _months._

Cold. _Pietro. _Cold.

She feels so cold.

_"It felt like that."_

.a/n: very short but I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I had made it. That scene though ... it's so perfect. ...well that's it for now, see you guys soon . Review please.


	2. Chapter 2

.crying

She is crying. The tears do not stop, the pain does not stop, that is why she does not stop crying. But she should - she_ should_. She should stop crying because Pietro had not yet cried and would surely tease her for crying again. Oh yes, Pietro will roll his eyes and tell her, _"you are such a girl, Wanda"_ because Pietro is always likely that.

So, she stops and slowly brings her hands to her face and starts wiping her tears away. Until, Pietro hugs her like he had done hours ago, combing her hair with his trembling hand. And she wonders about it because Pietro is supposed to be strong like Papa and Mama, not weak like small little _her_.

_"Neică?" _(1)

She felt him hug her tighter.

_"It is okay to cry, Wanda."_

A tear rolled down her face. She cried.

(1) Neică - Romanian for 'brother'

.a/n: yeah, so soon and still so short - it'll get longer a little bit next time though. Thanks for reading and for the support guys.


	3. Chapter 3

.deal (IW prt 1)

He slammed against the enemy's chest - a firm wall that endured years of wounds and grew numb to pain. But he was able to throw the Titan out of balance, the ground shaking as he fell on to his back and sending dust to cloud the area. Vision soared instantly away, his eyes glaring in concentration and anticipation for an oncoming attack.

_He feels her pain - hears her cries._

The Vision fisted his hands tightly, his drawn back shoulders trembling. The connection rang in his mind in echoes, filling him with dread and the want to _protect protect protect her! _\- and he forces the thought away feebly.

**Finish the mission.** Obey command.

A hotness in his abdomen snapped him from his helpless and torn state. He phases through the hit before materializing back, blasting red at the enemy. And maybe that's a wrong idea because all he sees is _redredredredredred -_

_He sees the red on her hands._

He gasped - there was no time to evade the massive shadow that rocketed towards him, the form that was braving the energy with a smirk on his face. An armored fist connected with Vision's jaw. The strength was too much and he flew _back back back_ \- but he feels his cape being pulled and he was thrown to the ground with a shuddering noise.

_He smells the sharp metal on her gloves, the mild sweetness on her neck._

Vision groaned as Thanos placed a foot on his chest, pinning him efficiently. The Titan crouched, the twisted smile still present. Crazy twisted smile. Like the Devil's.

_He remembers how much she hates the Devil._

_"You will not be successful in killing these peopl-"_

_"You fight not for the lives of the universe but for the one you long for," _Thanos told him in a hushed voice, the fight in the air disappearing as he spoke those words. Vision looked at him, his whole body going stiff. _"Am I right?"_

_"No," _was what he weakly croaked out as he willed his molecules to destabilise but to no avail. He looked at the Gauntlet and the glistening gems it adorned. Powerless. (1)

Thanos laughed. _"You lie, creature," _he bellowed before shushing again, his eyes growing dimmer by the moment. _"It hurts, does it not, this thing called "love"?"_

Vision clenched his jaw. _"I don't understand where this is going, Thanos."_

_"You lie once again," _the Titan said. _"Do you think I'm blind to not see t__he worry and confusion in your face as we fought? You _love_ someone. Who, though, is the question."_

_"I don't think that is any of your concern."_

_"Maybe it is not, maybe it is - but I want to offer you a deal. One that would benefit your loved one." _The Titan's smile returned, the sight baffling Vision - for there is nothing but an odd gentleness in the curve of his lips. _"If you agree to my terms, I won't kill her."_

Pause. Then: _"if I were to accept this deal of yours, how would I know you will fulfill your end?"_

A deep chuckle rumbled from the Titan's throat as he straightened his back. _"I, too, love and, as you would give your life to your beloved, I would give anything to mine. It is sympathy - no, call it an understanding. An understanding between two fools."_

...

_"What do you want?"_

Thanos smiled. Vision stares blankly.

_He remembers her fleeting kisses and her short hugs and the small talks in her bedroom and the little promises of _I love you.

_**Protect protect protect her!**_

And he will.

**a/n: was going to post the day before I turned 15 but lots had happened and I didnt get the chance to finish the original chapter 3. then I made this cos of the writer's block ive managed to catch. ugh. sorry didn't turn out well.**

**a small (spoiler-y) fact about thanos is that he's actually in love with Lady Death and he's trying to become supreme ruler of everything cos apparently he thought her "heart deserves better than the thrall" that he was. and the fact that Lady Death doesn't talk to him much doesn't help either.**

**(1) with the Infinity Gauntlet and the gems near, it would probably render Vision powerless (or that's what I think anyway)**

**thanks for reading guys, feedback is much appreciated. :) see you soon ~**


	4. Chapter 4

.thunder

He finds her huddled in a corner, blanket sprawled on her feet and arms on her head. The common room is dark, with the only source is the small slivers of moonlight that had broken through the rainclouds, filtering through the window panes. Thor stops and stares at her, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Lady Wanda?" His voice echoes in the room and she slowly lower her arms to look at him. He notices the strangeness in her face even through the thick shadows that she surrounds herself in. _Fright_ \- he realizes.

Her voice is small compared to his when she says "hey" before she takes the blanket and wraps it around her shoulders. "Did I ..." she hesitates, "Did I wake you?"

Thor shakes his head and smiles at her, "I was merely waiting for Lady Natasha to fall into slumber before I seek out the places she has hidden the magnificent pop-tarts of Midgard." He's lying through his teeth because she _did_ wake him - her powers warping his dreams into nightmares and visions of a nearing day, plunging him into disturbing scenes of death and betrayal before ultimately shocking him to consciousness. But her powers had been thick and obvious, it is apparent she had not meant to.

She doesn't have to know.

( She's not prying his thoughts for truth. He knows because a trembling smile graces her face and her olive eyes light up in amusement - and Thor could see her _trusting him_. She doesn't have to know. )

"Though it appears that you have trouble with sleep," he says before he strides and sits next to her, crossing his legs and props an elbow on his knee, with chin on his palm. "I would offer you a glass of milk - that usually helps Stark sleep, if wine had not already - but ... is something troubling you, Lady Wanda?"

A flash of white light ripped the darkened sky in two and for a moment, he sees the tensing in her shoulders and the beginning of a strangled yelp in her lips. Then it darkened.

"I forgot how loud thunders are."

It was said softly, her whisper drowned in the deafening clap of thunder and strong pitter-patter of rain, he almost believed it as the rattling of the glass panes.

Almost.

In a matter of seconds, he's wrapped her around his arms and running his fingers through her hair while singing old Asgardian lullabies. She's not wriggling out of his embrace as he would have thought she would, nor was she trying to pry his arms off her. Instead, she sighs.

"I should have gotten over this," she says, "but I haven't. You would have thought that years in a cell cut - off from the outside world would have made this fear go away."

"You fear thunder?" Thor asks. She pulls back and curls back to her place on the floor, burrowing back to the shadows.

"They sound similar to the things that haunt me," Wanda starts. "Too loud, the bombs Stark had helped made years ago. Too faraway, the cries of my people. When Strucker had found my weakness, he instructed his men to make the walls of the room impervious to any sound - 'it helps to protect the mind,' he said. Even if he is enemy, I am grateful for his ... ah, _sort of_ consideration.

"It worked. The silence became a friend and I had not been troubled by the loud booms. For a while, I thought I had gotten over this," she says, "but I haven't. I have only forgotten."

Thor noded his head silently with deep thought clouding his eyes. He realized that she must have perceived his quiet wrongly because she's stuttering "I'm working on it" and "I would understand if you find it ... uh, you are the thunder god after all and - "

"Sif used to be frightened of it," he cuts her rambling, "always tossing and turning in her sheets and muffling her shrieks into her pillow each storm. So much different from the usual brave and strong warrior Sif who manages to always defeat me in training. I may not know what it is like to be scared of thunder but that does not mean I find it pathetic."

The corners of her mouth curled slightly. "It must be hard trying to comfort this Sif woman."

Thor laughs. "Oh, yes it is. One wrong move would result in a punch on the face or a sword thrown at you. But brother would know just the right things to do: sometimes he would sit beside her, other times he would embrace her until she slept. He'd sing, too, and would tell humorous jokes. When lightning strikes the brightest and its roar is in its loudest, he would light up her room with his magic, and read to her books he knows she'd love."

He smiles, ignoring the wave of nostalgia washing over him. But an image of a smiling Loki, young and innocent with eyes that knew more than Thor would ever know, came to his mind fleetingly, replaced by a snarling and jealous Loki - and Thor chokes on his breath because _his skin was blue and his eyes are rubies and his heart is as cold as ice, and Thor should hate him then but Loki is brother and will always be _his brother, _and Thor hates himself for not being able to -_

"I take it that your brother is the better singer?" Wanda asks with an open-mouthed smile. And it was playful and light-hearted enough to snap him out of his thoughts, yet under the joke in her tone, _she understands._

"As much as I would not like to admit, yes," he manages to say with a smile. 'Thank you,' he adds mentally, hoping she would hear. "Far better than I."

Thor watches as she sighs and murmurs, "So same", before she sinks lower to the ground, if that was possible.

"Same?"

Wanda chuckles. "Pietro," she replies. "He is the worst singer. He would crack glass with even the first note." She releases another sigh. "I miss my neică, my brother."

He places a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "We all do."

She nods. "It is just so hard not to have his familiar presence by my side - or the warmth of my only family leaving," she pauses as thunder rumbles at a distance, "it is more scarier than _those_."

"Then let me be your family - your brother," Thor tells her. She sinks in silence. He grins at her with determination. "I know that I cannot replace your brother - _nothing _in the whole Nine Realms can - but you have already been a dear sister to me." His grin softens. "I may not be the brother Pietro is, but I shall be at all times you need me, letting you know that you are not alone."

Silence.

...

She smiles.

"Thank you, _frate._"

The storm continued on.

**.a/n: there are lots of fics about character being scared of thunder and someone comforting them so, why the heck not? was supposed to be either vision or clint, but then, who is better to comfort lil wanda if not the thunder god himself? and there aren't really any fics focusing about these two so ... hope you guys enjoyed. positive feedback is very much appreciated. thank you!**

frate - Romanian for brother. in this story ( and possible other fics concerning MCU ), neică is a term used for more ... er, loved (?) brothers, while frate is more like close brothers. kinda like how papa is said more lovingly than father (sometimes). well, this is kind of like my headcanon or something, so yeah.**(to unicornislandsw: thanks for pointing it out though. i got confused when I looked it up on google translate, til you commented so, thanks! :D)**

**( to Jessica Jayme Bell: now that i have reread it, it really is confusing. thanks for letting me know and for the advice. i'll do it as soon as i'm done with the next chap. thanks again~ )**


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